The Art of Kissing
by Rumaan
Summary: Monty Green's film project aims to capture first kisses. Bellamy is manipulated into signing up and Clarke is determined to prove that she is fun.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: So I read the Gadge fic, Like Lovers Do by miserella and couldn't resist writing a Bellarke AU for this scenario. Based on that first kiss video that had tumblr swooning a year or so ago.**

 **Thanks to HawthorneWhisperer for her help in answering my many questions about university in the US. Please excuse any mistakes as I went to uni in the UK.**

* * *

"Come on, Bellamy. You get to kiss a chick for art, how can you want to turn this down?" Miller said.

Bellamy raised an eyebrow and kept his arms folded. He wasn't some kind of performing monkey to put in front of a camera and then made to kiss some strange girl he'd never seen before.

"It's not as if this would be your first time kissing a complete stranger," Miller said with a sly grin.

"There's a difference between kissing some random girl at a bar to making out on a video."

"Yeah, one is something you do that benefits no one, whereas this would actually help Monty."

Bellamy wasn't sure just what he had to deserve to have Miller chasing him around the corridors of the college where he worked. Bellamy had liked Miller from the start. He wasn't one of those snooty college kids who usually failed to notice Bellamy was there – or worse, one of those who thought it was _oh so hilarious_ to deliberately spill their coffee all over the floor as he was passing by so he would have to clean it up.

Miller was in one of Bellamy's ancient history classes, and had not done the usual thing his classmates did when they saw him working his job, which was pretend they hadn't seen him. He'd come up and chatted about the latest essay Professor Kane had assigned, despite the fact that Bellamy had been wearing his dark blue jumpsuit and picking up trash from the steps that lead from the Poli-Sci faculty.

The only reason Bellamy had stuck this job out for as long as he had was so he could continue to take advantage of the cheap classes he got as a perk of working as a janitor at the college. It had been the idea of one of the deans, some rich liberal do-gooder, who wanted to 'give back'. Such ideas usually made Bellamy roll his eyes, but this one was actually pretty good. It gave him an opportunity to get a college education, even if he was taking him a crazy amount of time to graduate, and meant that he could still support Octavia so she wouldn't be stuck in some dead-end job.

"Yeah, because helping Monty is a prime concern of mine."

Miller shot him a glare. "That's not fair and you know it. Monty's never been a brat to you."

Bellamy rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Whilst some of the art kids were a pain in the ass, it wasn't something you could level at Monty Green. He even helped Bellamy clean up the studios if he was still there when Bellamy came by to make sure they were ready for the next day.

"Octavia's doing it," Miller said with a knowing look.

"What?!"

"Yep, one of the first to sign up actually."

"She's not even in college!"

Bellamy hated how Octavia had fallen in with Monty Green and Jasper Jordan, meeting them during one of the times she had visited him on campus, bringing him a packed lunch from home, knowing that he wouldn't spend any of their precious money on buying something filling and nutritious. Somehow, whilst waiting for him on the green outside the Art Faculty, she had struck up a conversation with Monty and Jasper, declared them better than any of the jerks at her High School, and taken to hanging out with them.

Miller shrugged, unconcerned, and Bellamy narrowed his eyes. He knew there was no point in getting Octavia to see that she was far too young to participate in something like this. However, it meant there was only one thing for him to do. He was going to have to sign up to keep an eye on her.

"Don't think I'm not aware of why you told me that," Bellamy said, but he grabbed the clipboard off Miller and scrawled his name on the list before he slammed it back into Miller's hands.

Miller just gave him a shit-eating grin and scampered off before Bellamy could change his mind with a breezy, "Monty'll give you a call later this week."

* * *

It wasn't until Clarke got to the studio where they would be filming this that she started to have second thoughts. It wasn't that she didn't support Monty's idea. No, she did wholeheartedly. It was just she had never done anything like this before. She hadn't even hooked up with a stranger in a bar, too concerned over the potential diseases the person could be carrying. It didn't help matters that when she'd said she would do it, all her friends had burst out laughing, and then asked if she was serious.

They might not think it but she was fun.

It was just that juggling a pre-Med degree, her interest in art, and her volunteering at the College's walk-in health clinic meant that she didn't have time to goof off with the others, but it didn't mean that she was not fun.

She _was_ fun.

But now that she was here, about to lock lips with someone she had never met before, Clarke was questioning her life choices.

"Clarke, you came!" Monty said, strolling over, looking as if this was nothing more than a routine day for him.

She could not help but wonder if he ever got stressed? This was the big day for him, if this project failed then it would result in him failing this course, and he looked so calm.

"I said I would."

"And you are ever a woman of your word," Monty said. "So got any requests?"

Clarke gazed around the room of milling strangers. She saw Wells wave and make his way over. "Just not Wells, okay?"

Monty gave her a strange look but said, "Got it. That would defeat the purpose of this project anyway as it's all about first kisses."

"Hey, Wells and I have not ki-"

But Clarke was talking to thin air as Monty has disappeared off, greeting the next person to arrive with his clipboard in hand.

"You still want to go through with this?" Wells asked, as he handed her a paper cup of water.

"Too late to back out now, right?"

"We could both pull out together. Two people it would still keep the numbers even for Monty."

The idea was tempting but then Clarke knew she'd have to face the knowing grins of her friends. Ducking out at the last minute was totally what was expected of her. She stiffened her spine. What was the worst that could go wrong? She'd probably end up kissing some guy in a fedora who'd try and convince her he was a Nice Guy™, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. If Finn and Lexa had taught her anything then it was to be a little more ruthless.

As soon as she laid eyes on him, Clarke knew that she had underestimated just how wrong this could go. The clothes might have been understated, a worn pair of jeans and a faded t-shirt, but it did nothing to take away from his almost obnoxious good looks. The tousled black hair could have been the product of hours in the bathroom mirror, but Clarke didn't think so. It lay so naturally that she bet it looked like that when he first woke up. Then there were the freckles that spread charmingly down from his nose to scatter across his olive toned skin, but by far the worst aspect was the arrogant smirk on his face. He knew he was attractive.

Clarke shot a small pleading look at Monty, who was manning the camera, who did nothing but give her two thumbs up. Of course, he thought he was doing her a favour.

Once they stood opposite each other, Monty informed them that the video camera was about to start rolling and that they should 'go for it'. Clarke shot him a glare that had him quickly disappearing behind the lens.

Monty had already briefed them that this wasn't a social thing, so they didn't have to make small talk unless they wanted to. Clarke definitely appreciated that, wanting nothing more than to get this over and done with. She straightened her shoulders, ignoring the small sounds of Monty and Miller shuffling around, and stepped up, involuntarily licking her lips before she looked up at him.

"Ready, Princess?" he asked.

Their eyes locked and Clarke's breath hitched in her throat. He had the most beautiful dark brown eyes, so deep that she could almost feel herself falling in and drowning. His hands reached out and entangled with hers, bringing her close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his chest. He quirked an eyebrow as if testing her willingness and she gave a small nod of agreement.

Clarke had never been one of those girls who got swept away with the idea of romance or true love's kiss. Whilst her friends has swooned over how romantic old black and white movies made kissing, she'd just thought it looked uncomfortable. The woman always seemed to be squashed by the dashing hero, his lips pressing down hard whilst his arms crushed the heroine closer. The angles looked awkward and had Clarke's fingers itching to massage the poor leading lady's neck.

This kiss had nothing to do with those swept-away-by-the-violence-of-their-feelings portrayals but the passion took Clarke aback. It started off slowly, a series of feather soft touches that became more drawn out and had her yearning for more. She inched up onto her toes to deepen the contact, her fingers letting go of his and clutching at his shoulders for support as she pressed her lips against his with more urgency. His arms swept around her, his hands splayed warmly across her back. She sighed in response and his tongue darted to sweep across her lips and into her mouth.

The touch of his tongue to hers had the background fading into obscurity. Every fibre of Clarke was focused on where her lips fused with his. She felt engulfed in heat as his hands slipped under the fabric of her top to touch her bare skin, pulling her closer to him. Her body melded itself against his, needing to be as close as physically possible whilst her hands crept up from his shoulders to link around his neck, her fingers threading into his hair.

Time lost all meaning and it wasn't until a discrete cough impinged on her senses that Clarke was able to drag herself away. Her body mourned the heat of his as she stepped away, her hands pressed against her overheated cheeks as the reality of just how lost she'd become in that kiss dawned on her. She struggled to make eye contact with him, sure the cocky smile would be back. When she finally managed to raise her eyes to his, there was no sign of his previous arrogance, just a serious look on his face as if he was surprised about something.

Embarrassment caught up with her and she looked away, turning towards Monty. "That's it, right?"

"Er…yeah, you're free to go," Monty said, a disbelieving look on his face.

Miller coughed something that sounded suspiciously like, "And hook up somewhere more private."

It made Clarke flush even more and with a brief glance at the stranger she'd just passionately made out with, she fled the room as quickly as she could whilst retaining some shred of dignity. She could feel the eyes of the stranger all the way across the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: This little ficlet is unbeta'd so please excuse any mistakes.**

* * *

There had been an almost constant frown on Bellamy's face since Monty's stupid first kiss project. He told himself that it was nothing to do with the way the blonde – whose name he hadn't even gotten – had run out, but because Octavia had actually managed to start dating her 'first kiss' despite him being a couple of years older than Bellamy. It didn't matter how much Bellamy objected or spoke about how creepy it was (which it was) Octavia was adamant that she could look after herself and that Lincoln was a sweetheart despite his bulky appearance and many tattoos.

"The screening for Monty's project is tomorrow," Octavia said, as they sat down in the tiny little kitchen to eat dinner.

"So?"

"He's holding a party for it in the evening. Are you coming?"

He scowled as he speared a chunk of chicken onto his fork. "No."

"Aww, c'mon, Bell! Everyone who took part is going to be there."

"I'm working," he said, knowing it was the best way to shut Octavia up and it was true, although he would finish work at 9pm and knowing Monty, the party would still be going strong then.

"I'm sure you can find someone to cover. Shumway won't mind."

Shumway _would_ mind because he was an asshole. The kind of boss who delighted in making the lives of those underneath him miserable and if you told him you couldn't cover a certain time he would deliberately schedule you to work at that exact time. He hadn't told Octavia this, though. She already felt guilty that he was working this job and putting money aside for her college education – she didn't need to know how awful it really was.

"I could but I won't."

Octavia looked so disappointed at him that he almost said he would go just to get her to smile.

Twirling her fork into her spaghetti, she said, "You know I had to ask Monty if you had kissed a boy or a girl because you refuse to tell me _anything_ about it.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because you've had a constant frown on your face since that day," she said, holding a finger up as he went to interject. "And don't tell me that it's because of Lincoln!"

"He's too old for you," he mumbled.

Octavia rolled her eyes and ignored his comment. "I know her name, by the way."

"What?"

"I asked Monty who she is."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I'm curious and when I told Monty that you wouldn't tell me anything about it, he obliged."

Bellamy moodily twirled strands of spaghetti around on his plate.

"Are you being this pissy about it because she ran out on you?"

He frowned at that. "I'm not being pissy," he snapped.

Octavia snorted. "Yeah, you're totally _not_ being a big baby about this. Miller told me they might have to get an R rating on this project because of your kiss."

"Miller doesn't know what the hell he's talking about."

"I guess I'll judge for myself tomorrow," Octavia said, giving him a smug look that showed perfectly well she believed Miller over her own flesh and blood.

Octavia dropped the discussion then, moving on to talk about some drama that happened at lunch today at school. Bellamy wasn't interested on the best of occasions let alone when his mind was already taken up with why the blonde had just fled the room without saying anything.

Once she'd finished her food, Octavia took her plate to the sink and was about to leave the room when Bellamy caved. "What's her name?" he mumbled into his remaining spaghetti.

"I'm sorry, big brother, I didn't catch that?"

He looked up and glared at her. "What's her name?"

"Thought you weren't interested."

A frustrated noise escaped his throat and she took pity on him and said, "Clarke. Her name's Clarke Griffin."

Shooting him an amused look, she skipped out the room, leaving him in possession of this news.

Clarke.

It wasn't a name he would've guessed but somehow he thought it suited her – he didn't know why.

* * *

Bellamy Blake it appeared did not have much of an online profile Clarke found when she googled his name. A Facebook page with the security settings set at the maximum allowed and a twitter profile that had one tweet, followed one person, and had one follower (someone called blakesdoitbest so she assumed it was a relative of some kind). Nothing that gave her any actual useful information, beyond that he was studying History at the same University as her, which she already knew from Monty.

There was no mention of his job as a janitor at the college, which Miller had told her about with a defensive attitude.

" _Yeah, he has a shit job," he'd said, his arms folded and a furrow between his eyebrows. "So if you're the type of person who'd be put off from dating a janitor then forget about what Monty told you."_

" _Good to know that you think so well of me," she'd snapped back as Monty had shifted uncomfortably at the tension between his good friend and his boyfriend._

" _I've seen plenty of otherwise 'decent' people be nasty about Bellamy's job – people who were happy to be his friend until they saw him picking up trash in a blue jumpsuit so excuse me for looking out for him."_

Miller's defensive loyalty had Clarke even more intrigued as to just who this Bellamy Blake was. She wasn't even sure why she was so curious about the guy but for some reason she kept thinking about him and how great that kiss had been – and then how strange she must have seemed running off the way that she had. She hadn't even stopped to get his name. She hoped Monty had at least edited that last part so she didn't come across as quite so crazy on film.

She had contemplated not going to the showing party, her embarrassment at how overwhelmed she'd been was that strong, but her apparently insatiable curiosity over who Bellamy Blake was (apart from a great kisser) won.

Now, she was part nerves and part excitement, which had Wells teasing her as he held hands with Harper – not the girl he'd kissed for the project. No, that had been someone called Raven Reyes who'd terrified her best friend much to Clarke's amusement. Harper was her much sweeter, less intimidating roommate, who'd taken one look at Wells' rabbit-in-the-headlights expression as he'd come out of the filming room and taken him for a coffee.

As they walked into the lobby of the small auditorium, Clarke's eyes flittered around the room, searching for a head of impossibly messy black hair only to be disappointed as she came up blank.

He wasn't here.

It shouldn't have bothered her but for some reason it did. In her mind, it had been a pretty mind blowing kiss considering they hadn't shared more than two words.

Her good mood gone, Clarke snagged a glass of wine from a table and gulped back a large part of it.

One of Wells' eyebrows rose and he said, "I take it the mystery man isn't here?"

"Nope," she replied and attempted a blasé shrug of her shoulders. "Not that it matters."

Wells just made a non-committal sound but didn't push it any further. Of course, he'd know that she had looked forward to meeting Bellamy Blake and was disappointed, but being the good friend he was, he attempted to take her mind off it instead of pointing it out.

* * *

Bellamy wasn't even sure how he'd migrated over to this side of the campus. He was sure he'd studiously attempted to stay far away as he trundled around clearing up the detritus of another busy day of student life, but apparently he still managed to find himself outside the small arthouse cinema where the art faculty projects were 'premiered'.

The building was lit up and from the darkening gloom outside, he could see the people milling about, talking and sipping at their glasses of wine. A flash of blonde hair coming out of the entrance caught his eye and he realised it was her – Clarke.

He knew he should move on. Try to slip away unobtrusively before she spotted him but he found himself unable to tear his eyes away.

It didn't take her long to spot him and she stared for a moment before coming over.

"Hey!" she said, standing a couple of feet away from him.

"Hi."

"Not going inside?" she asked.

"Can't. I'm working," he replied, pointing down at his jumpsuit.

His jaw clenched as her eyes followed his gesture almost daring her to say something derogatory, but she only said, "Oh."

An awkward silence fell between them before they both tried to speak at the same time. Bellamy winced as they both trailed off and stared at each other for a moment. This was one of the most uncomfortable conversations he'd ever tried to hold.

"Sorry," he said. "You were saying?"

"No, no, it's okay, you go first."

"Oh, well, I guess I better get back to work. The trash isn't going to pick itself up," he said and then winced at how lame he sounded.

"Yeah, right."

He gave her a small wave of his hand and started to make his way off, grateful that the horrifying conversation was going to end when she called out, "Oh, by the way, I'm Clarke. I didn't introduce myself last time."

"Bellamy," he replied, a small smile curling his lips up.

"Nice to see you again, Bellamy," she said.

"You, too, Clarke."

They both stared at each other for a long moment before she turned and made her way back into the cinema.

Bellamy blinked a couple of times before he shook his head. Were they always destined to have strange meetings?


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Thanks for your reviews. Its always good to hear what you think. There's one more part to come after this.**

 **Once again, this is unbeta'd so please excuse any inevitable mistakes.**

* * *

There were some wolf-whistles and catcalls as Clarke walked past the table crowded with frat boys and into her favourite on-campus coffee shop. She didn't even bother to glare at them, blocking it all out as she slid onto a chair opposite Wells, who passed over her caffe latte with a roll of his eyes.

"Frat boys," he said derogatorily.

"Aren't you a frat boy?" she asked with a teasing grin.

"Yeah, but my fraternity has a higher standard than most and, being an African-American fraternity, we have zero tolerance towards racist songs."

Clarke gave a little huff of amusement at that. She knew that Wells wouldn't have necessarily joined a fraternity if it wasn't for the fact that his dad was an influential fraternity alumni. It had been expected that Wells would join the same house as his dad and he'd been happy to go along with it because the charter wasn't particularly fond of the usual fraternity activities and mainly concentrated on community work.

"So apart from harassment from some of the _lovelier_ aspects of our campus society, how is your new found internet fame treating you."

Banging her head on the table, Clarke groaned. "Don't, Wells! If I'd know this would go viral, I would never signed up to do it."

"Hate to break it to you but the video didn't go viral, you and the mystery stud did!"

"You have to stop calling him that. He's not a mystery – you laughed as his sister accosted me and attempted to give me his number, saying, and I quote, "Please date him. He can be a dick but wow that kiss!" unquote."

Wells grinned widely. "Ah, that did have to be my favourite part of the evening – aside from just how red you got watching your part in Monty's project."

Deciding that Wells was getting far too much entertainment out of this situation, Clarke decided to turn the tables. "How about we talk about _your_ role in Monty's video. Talk about eaten alive!"

"Telling you now, Raven Reyes is scary as fuck."

Clarke cackled at that. "She's awesome."

"Yeah, she is and way out of my league."

"She's way out of everyone's league."

It hadn't been until Clarke saw the video that she recognised exactly who Raven was - Finn's girlfriend – and it was obvious that she had recognised Clarke, too. However, instead of a tense confrontation, the two had hit it off. It hadn't taken Raven more than a couple of minutes before she was teaming up with Wells to tease Clarke mercilessly about the 'x-rated kiss.'

"So are you actually going to call this Bellamy guy?" Wells asked.

"I didn't take his number from his sister."

Wells grinned at her, pulled his wallet out of his pocket and took out a ripped up piece of paper and said, "Yeah, but _I_ did."

* * *

"You're an idiot," Octavia grumbled as she slumped down in the sofa next to him.

"What have I done now?"

"Why won't you just go and find her."

"Not this _again_ , O!"

"Monty knows her. He'll pass your number on, I bet."

"I thought you already tried to give her my number and she wasn't interested," Bellamy pointed out.

"Only because she was embarrassed. Believe me, no one kisses a stranger like that unless they are interested."

Bellamy didn't both replying and just turned his attention back to his laptop and the history essay he was trying to get written.

But Octavia wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily. Putting her hand over the laptop screen, she said, "And don't think you're fooling anyone with that studied nonchalant crap you're trying to pull. _You_ don't kiss a girl like that unless you're interested."

"How would you know, O? It's not as if I go round kissing girls in front of you."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Yeah, but you also don't get all grouchy like this over other girls."

"I am not grouchy, I'm trying to get a paper written."

"Whatever, Bell. Just give it up already."

Before he was able to argue any more with his annoying little sister, his phone rang. Picking it up, Bellamy frowned at the unknown number. While he was tempted to let it ring off until voicemail, he picked it up. He was Octavia's guardian and sometimes got calls from various social service agencies checking in on her welfare.

"Hello?"

There was a silence on the other end before he heard the sound of a breath being sucked in. "Hi…er…is this Bellamy? Bellamy Blake?"

The female voice definitely did not belong to a social worker, it was far too hesitant and nervous. He shot a quick look at Octavia who had hijacked his laptop and was currently scrolling through her Tumblr dash. He scowled as he saw yet another gif of him kissing Clarke appear on the screen. Octavia stopped scrolling and clicked on the reblog button. He rolled his eyes at just how weird his baby sister was reblogging him kissing some stranger but at least she was distracted although history had taught him she wasn't that distracted, so he wandered through into the tiny kitchen to take the call.

"This is Bellamy."

"Er…hi, Bellamy. It's Clarke. You know the girl from Monty's project."

His heart stopped for a moment and surprise made his mouth drop open. His eyes flew to the door leading into the living room, but he could see that Octavia was still not paying attention to his conversation.

"Yeah, Clarke, hi," he stuttered and then winced at his inability to string a sentence together.

"I was wondering," she started to say before she tailed off and took another deep breath. "I was wondering if you wanted to maybe go and get a coffee some time."

The words were rushed and it took him a moment to work out exactly what she'd said but when he did, he couldn't stop the smile from breaking out across his face. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Really?" she asked and he can hear the relief in her voice. "Great. Er…so are you around tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow's great. Is early afternoon okay with you? I have class in the morning and I start my shift at 3pm."

"Yeah tomorrow afternoon is fine. Is 1pm okay? I finish my class then."

"Sure. Where shall I meet you?"

"Do you know the café Grounders? It's off campus and so tends to be a little quieter."

"I know it," he said. He hadn't pegged her as a Grounders type of girl. It was slightly grungy and popular with local blue collar workers, but he liked that she was prepared to get away from the usual college haunts and mix it up with locals.

"Great. Meet you there then, Bellamy," she said.

"Look forward to it."

Once she'd hung up, he looked down at his phone for a moment. The grin still hadn't gone from his face and the bad mood he'd been in for the last couple of weeks had lifted.

"Bell?" Octavia called out from the living room. "Who was that?"

He'd forgotten about Octavia. She was never going to let him live this down, especially when she found out they planned on meeting at Grounders. He hoped Lincoln wasn't working then or he was pretty sure he'd see his sister there, too.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: And here's the final part of this little ficlet. Thank you so much for all your comments. When I finished writing this, I wasn't even sure whether I should post this or not and each comment has made me really grateful that I did!**

 **Also, You can find me over at tumblr (the same user name) where I do a LOT of flailing over the Blake siblings. Feel free to stop by and say hello!**

* * *

Clarke had nearly made herself late for class that morning. She'd been so busy trying on and discarding tops that she hadn't realised just how much time had passed. This meant she had not had time to weigh up the pros and cons of the light grey Henley she was currently wearing and she wasn't going to have time either – not unless she wanted to be late and she couldn't afford that for this lecture. Professor Tsing was the most efficiently ruthless teacher Clarke had ever had and no one was ever late for her lessons. It was a joke amongst the pre-Med students that if you were, Professor Tsing would find a secret room somewhere and do away with you – but not before performing outlandish medical tests on you.

By the time her class let out, the adrenalin that had overtaken her body during the morning rush to class – and dissipated the nerves that had plagued her since she'd put the phone down on Bellamy – had gone. She still wasn't sure how she'd plucked up the courage to call him, but it had a lot to do with the way the piece of paper Wells had given her had burned a hole in her pocket along with just how awkward he'd been when she'd bumped into him the night of the Monty's screening party. It had been a far cry from the swagger he'd possessed when he'd walked into the studio the day they'd met and she'd found it endearing. In fact, the more she'd thought about him, the more endearing it had become.

But now she was on her way to meet him, she was less sure about just how good an idea this was.

Her phone pinged in her pocket and she pulled it out.

 **Wells:** _Stop it! I can hear you overthinking this in my English Lit class!_

She huffed out a smile. Wells had been gleeful when she'd phone him straight after asking Bellamy out. And he was right that it was time she got back on the saddle and stopped allowing her experiences with Finn and Lexa to stymie her dating life.

 **Clarke:** _Calm down! I'm still going._

 **Wells:** _Good! I better get all the details later, too. If you kiss him then Raven owes me pizza._

 **Clarke:** _You and Raven are betting on this?_

 **Wells:** _Have you met Raven?_

He had a point.

Drawing in a deep breath, Clarke put her phone away, straightened her shoulders and pushed open the door to Grounders.

She glanced around quickly and saw a head of black curls bent over a book towards the back. Giving a nod to the burly man, Nyko, who worked behind the counter, she weaved her way through the tables until she stood opposite Bellamy.

"Hi," she said, wincing inwardly at just how breathless her voice sounded.

His head shot up and he said, "Clarke, hey."

He stood as she pulled the chair out and she couldn't help smiling a little at the old fashioned chivalry. It was done with an unstudied air, too, which made Clarke think it was a natural mannerism.

"I hope you don't mind but I got here a little early," he said, pointing to the half-drunk coffee that sat on the table already.

"Oh no," she said.

"What do you want to drink?" he asked.

She didn't have the chance to reply before Nyko was putting a latte on the table in front of her. "How are you, Clarke?" he asked. "I've not seen you for a while."

"Yeah, no. Classes got busy but it's evened out again now so I'll be back."

Nyko gave her a smile at that before his attention switched to Bellamy. "You're Octavia's brother, right?"

Clarke saw the grimace on his face before he replied, "Yeah."

"She's a nice girl. Got our Lincoln wrapped around her finger."

"That sounds about right for O," Bellamy said dryly.

"You two need anything then give me a shout."

"Thanks, Nyko," Clarke said with a smile.

"You come here a lot then?" Bellamy asked once Nyko had made his way back to the counter.

"Yeah, I like to come here to sketch."

"You draw?"

And with that the slightly awkward getting to know you first date questions started.

Clarke couldn't help the softening of her eyes as he told her he was the sole guardian for his sister and was putting himself through college using the college employee perks of cheaper classes. He had a bit of chip on his shoulder about it but it was nothing she couldn't understand. She learnt that he dreamed of becoming an ancient history lecturer and that Professor Kane had taken him under his wing, but that his first priority was putting Octavia through college properly so she wouldn't have to do what he was and could actually complete her degree in the usual amount of time. He had a dry sense of humour that had her laughing out loud once or twice.

All too quickly, Bellamy was looking at his watch and sighing slightly.

"So I've got to get to work," he said.

She tried not to look too disappointment but she wasn't sure she succeeded. "Yeah, I probably should go, too. I have a biology exam to prepare for."

"Are you walking back towards campus?" he asked.

"I was planning on heading to the library."

"Want to walk together?"

"Sure," she said jumping at the opportunity to spend a little more time with him.

* * *

Bellamy ignored the knowing look Nyko gave him as he held the door open for Clarke. However, he didn't miss the way the other man reached for his phone and rolled his eyes. He probably should've insisted they met somewhere else knowing that his sister had befriended all the staff here since starting to date Lincoln. She had probably made Nyko swear to send her updates on him.

"This was nice," Clarke said, her finger gesturing to him and then her.

He grinned a little. "Yeah, it was."

"So you want to do this again sometime?"

"Definitely. How about going to see Mad Max on Friday?"

"Sounds good."

A brief silence fell between them before Clarke peeped up at him and said, "Sorry for running out on you after filming finished."

"Yeah, why did you do that?"

She shrugged slightly. "I don't know. I got a little overwhelmed, I guess."

"Overwhelmed?" he asked teasingly and raised an eyebrow.

Clarke rolled her eyes at him. "Oh come on! You have to admit we got a little carried away and then Monty's boyfriend said that comment and I just couldn't be there anymore."

"I was going to ask for your number," he said. "But then you just bailed."

"I was going to ask for yours at the screening party."

"Really?" he asked, unable to keep the eagerness out of his voice.

"Yeah. It was one hell of a kiss," she said, her cheeks a little pink.

"Care to repeat it?"

"Oh, you thought you were getting away without kissing me again?"

"Cute," he remarked huskily as she tip-toed up, pulled his head down and pressed her lips against his.


End file.
